Remains of Humanity - Book 1

Chapter Four

The Sun has reached its highest peak in the clear sky marking the afternoon. Emilia sat by the kitchen table, taking her time as she ate scrambled egg mixed with cheese. Meanwhile, outside in the backyard, Jesse had just finished digging up sand to fill a hole with a shovel, wiping sweat off his forehead every now and then as the sun was directly shining on him.

He had buried Margrath in a grave. When he was done, Emilia stepped outside to look at the grave herself, but she was not crying this time. She simple stared. Jesse noticed Emilia after he placed the shovel aside, walked over and bent on one knee before her.

"Emilia..." Jesse said, waiting for a response but was met with silence, "... Do you know any family members you could see? Anyone you know that you trust ? Do you still have a dad?"

Emilia was quiet for a moment, "Yes. I have a dad." she answered after.

"Really? Where is he?"

"His a soldier."

Jesse is surprised, "A soldier, thats great. He can keep you safe then. Where is he?"

"I... don't remember"

"Come on Emilia, at least try."

Emilia stands in thought while holding her hands together behind her back, before finally remembering something, "I remember one time, my mom was talking to him. She said..."

"Yes?"

"San... Mon... Something."

Jesse tries pondering in thought about those words, before realising, "Sant-Monica?"

"Yes! That's it."

"... But thats across the country."

"Are you going to take me to my dad?"

Jesse paused for a bit, looking at Emilia in the face, "Yes. I will. I will take you to your dad."

"You really will?"

Jesse assures her with a nod, "We will have to pack some things for the trip though."

"I can help." Said Emilia with some sort of excitement, Jesse noticing this and giving a brief smile.

"Sure. Lets go sort that out right now, then we can leave tomorrow morning. Fine with you?"

Emilia nods back twice before running inside, leaving Jesse to stand up and follow.

After Jesse parked the car inside the garage, Emilia helped carry several bags and boxes into the cars boot. Most of these boxes and bags consisted of food, luxuries, drinks, clothes and medical kits.

When that was full, they took a break by having lunch, before proceeding to carry on filling the back seats with whatever they could. This lasted until the sun was setting on the horizon. There was still many boxes left in the house, so it was decided the task would continue tomorrow.

Emilia was found sleeping on the coach in the lounge with one arm hanging to the floor, tired out by the work. Jesse slowly picked her up, nearly but luckily not waking Emilia up and carried her to his bedroom where he placed Emilia in bed. After, Jesse yawned and decided to go sleep as well, locking all the doors of the house before heading to bed in the other room.

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A thud, was all it took to wake Jesse up in the middle of the night. A loud thud which could have came from the kitchen. Jesse rubs his eyes first before checking the time on his smart phone on the night stand beside his bed.

12:32 am

Jesse climbed out of bed and walked over to the door, opening it and walking into the corridor. He went over to check on Emilia, opening the door to the room she slept in and finding her still sound asleep in bed. He then turned and walked down the corridor to the lounge where he heard footsteps.